Merry Birthday Ochibi!
by NenePasciele
Summary: Ryoma's birthday isn't the happiest time for him with the christmas season and all, and having his friends forget about it makes it all the worse for him. When the regulars eventually do remember, how will they make it up to their little baby prince of tennis? Happy Early Birthday to Ryoma!


**Chiwassu~~~  
****So I don't do very many one shots  
****But this is Christmas!  
****Well, not yet anyways but whatevs  
****Merry Early Christmas  
****And as a merry early Christmas present,  
****I decided to give you people a Christmas fic**

**Though this was supposed to be for last year or was it two years ago…  
****Either way I just didn't have time to finish it then  
****But it's never too late as I normally say  
****So as a makeup gift and since it's the holidays, I'll give this to you guys  
****And give Ryoma a birthday present at the same time haha  
****Saa We Start**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Prince of Tennis… I don't own the rights, I don't own the characters… it's pretty sad, yes I know**

Quick Summary:

The day before Christmas and the regulars are having a short tennis practice and meeting in the gym. However, all they could think of was Christmas with it being Christmas Eve and what not but at the same time, a certain freshmen was just sitting quietly, yet a bit more annoyed than usual. Once practice lets up, Ryoma is the first to leave, leaving his questioning Sempai.

* * *

Merry Birthday Ochibi!

It was Monday morning and the regulars had been called the day before by their captain to attend a short practice followed by a meeting. With no choice, all nine of them had shown up, despite the fact that one of them had to be removed from the team until the next intramural competition for the regular positions. They had been practicing for about an hour before they were told to pick up after themselves when the buchou had called for practice to be over. Ryoma figured that Tezuka only wanted to make sure that they weren't slacking off too much during their break.

"Nyaa, Ochibi~" Kikumaru jumped over towards the freshmen that was picking the balls in his part of the court. The redhead had then glomped the boy from behind, cutting off his air access at the same time.

"I can't breathe, Kikumaru-sempai." Ryoma tried to shove him off.

"But Ochibi~~, it's Christmas tomorrow~ and I won't get to hug you then." Kikumaru squeezed harder around the boy's frame.

"Eiji, you'll kill Echizen!" Oishi moved into mother hen mode and rushed over to save the freshmen.

"But Oishi~ I won't get to see ochibi for a week, nya." The boy whined.

"That still isn't an excuse to crush him to death." Oishi countered.

"Saa, that would be interesting to see." Fuji said, with an ominous aura surrounding him.

"Fshhhh..." Was Kaido's response to the whole ordeal.

"If you all are finished goofing around, get changed and we'll finish our meeting today with an announcement along with something I must give you from Atobe." Tezuka sighed at the last part.

"Haii~" The regulars all answered in unison before going to the changing room. They all changed almost immediately for there was a risk of getting threatened with Inui's Juice if they took longer than expected but the first year was already packed up and looked like he was about to leave.

"Where are you going Echizen?" Momo stopped him.

"Home." He said in his stoic manner and looked twice as more annoyed than usual.

"32% that Echizen is angry because of the holiday season." Inui commented. Ryoma just looked at the data loving third year but didn't say anything. He wasn't wrong but he was missing more than just the holiday season.

"Whoa, what's with the coldness? Come on Echizen, it's Christmas Eve and Christmas tomorrow!" Momo locked the boy in a head lock but he was brushed off immediately and a bit more harshly than Echizen usually treated him.

"I know what the occasion is Momo-sempai and that's why I have to get home early. Tell Buchou that I'll be leaving early and I'm sorry that I didn't tell him straight." Then before anyone else could get a word in, the door was shut and the freshman was already half way across campus.

"Something must really be bothering him..." Momo stated the obvious.

"No kiddin, idiot." Kaido scoffed.

"What was that Mamushi?!"

"Cut it out! We can't do anything about it now that he's already gone. Let's just get to Tezuka and tell him ourselves." Oishi moved from mother hen mode to vice-captain mode. The two second years exchanged glances before letting each other out of their grips and followed their sempai. When they got back to the gym, Tezuka was there waiting with Ryuzaki-sensei and there was a finely or more like, over decorated basket in her hands.

"Ah, there you all are." She laughed as she entered. "Where's Echizen?"

"He had to leave early." Fuji said to the two.

"And he was being a grouch about it too." Momo pouted, not liking the cold shoulder he got from the first year.

"Well that's to be expected." Ryuzaki laughed to herself. "I was hoping to see Echizen's face when I gave him his card." She remembered when she had opened her own card earlier that day. She found it a little odd that the rich tennis boy had given them all a little something for the occasion but she figured that people always acted different during the holidays.

"What card?" Taka asked her.

"Well, it seems that Atobe had dropped by and left us a little early Christmas present." Tezuka said and pulled one of the envelops in the basket. "Here, this one is for Kikumaru."

"Hoi, hoi, I wonder what it says." Kikumaru excitedly opened the envelope and opened the card. When he did, there was a puff of confetti from it a happy song singing jingle bells. "Wha, sugoi!" Kikumaru was amazed at how the little card had amused him so much.

"And he gave one of these to each of us?" Momo asked.

"Yes, it would seem so but when he had come by, he wanted to give Echizen his personally but I told him that I hadn't called you all together yet; though I don't know the reason why he wanted to do such a thing. He just shrugged before giving me the basket and left." Tezuka explained just as Ryuzaki had finished handing them out.

"That's too bad... I took a peak at Echizen's and I would have loved to see his face when he saw it."

"Why do you keep saying that, Ryuzaki-sensei? And do you know the reason why Atobe wanted to see Echizen personally?" Oishi asked the teacher.

"You mean you boys don't know what today is?" she questioned them. They all murmured to each other but none of them seemed to have hit the mark. "Well, I guess I can't blame you all since it's Christmas Eve. I guess it was just a bit of bad luck on Echizen's part but it isn't like he had any control over it."

"Mou, what are you talking about sensei~" Kikumaru whined.

"I don't think it's my place to remind you all but I'm sure Inui has it written down somewhere. I really must be going, though I understand more on why Echizen was, as Momo said, a grouch. Merry Christmas and be careful over the holidays." Their teacher greeted before leaving. "And give Echizen the card and gift before the end of the day once you boys figure out what you forgot." She waved.

"What did we forget?" Taka wondered for a moment.

"Does Buchou know?" Kaido looked at the stoic captain.

"No, I haven't the slightest either. As I said, I was surprised when Atobe wanted to see Echizen himself."

"Saa, did you find anything Inui?" Fuji looked over the other's shoulder to look at the information.

"Nothing yet... I'm looking through his personal data, blood type, family members, date of birth... that is not good." Inui's glasses flashed as he found out the reason for their sensei's slight disappointment and their kouhai's attitude.

"What is it Inui?!" Kikumaru was getting impatient.

"It seems that today is Echizen's..."

"Birthday! It's his birthday today!" Momo gripped his head, not believing that he actually forgot. Nanako had yelled out something before he had left with Echizen but he didn't really pick it up but the boy had been really embarrassed by it. When he asked what she had said, Ryoma had told him not to worry about it.

"Oh my..." Was all Fuji had said.

"That's not good." Taka started to feel very distressed.

"Fshhh..."

"No wayyy~ we didn't greet ochibi a happy birthday!" Kikumaru wailed.

"Well, it is Christmas eve so I know he wouldn't blame us, but still... you'd expect him to say something." Oishi thought for a moment. "Then again, this is Echizen we are talking about."

"So Tezuka, what shall we do about this?" Inui came by the Buchou.

"We should all go over and apologize before giving him the card and greeting him."

"But that's not good enough. I know he wouldn't say anything about it and wouldn't hold it against us but that doesn't mean our ignorance didn't hurt him." Fuji said to the group. They all remained silent but the tensai was right about everything.

"Then what do you suggest we do?" Tezuka looked at the boy who now had his eyes open and seemed to be planning something. Fuji looked at his time and noticed that it was still two in the afternoon and grinned before telling them of his plot.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Ryoma was walking around the house on his own; well with Karupin by his feet. Last week, his parents had him and Nanako enter a contest along with them so that they could win a luxurious cruise trip over the winter holidays. They would get a bus ride to port located around Osaka then they would take the cruise towards China then come back home. The whole trip would take around five days, a few hours for bussing and the rest for the boat ride plus waiting time. On the day of the contest, by their luck, they had won. Unfortunately, they had found out that it was a trip for two only. Ryoma didn't want to spoil his parents' excitement so he and Nanako agreed that they should go along without them.

Although Nanjirou was thrilled with his extraordinary luck, Rinko felt bad that she would be leaving the two kids alone on Christmas. Ryoma just told her that there would be many more Christmases for them to celebrate together but it wasn't every day that they would win a trip like this. So, the mother had finally agreed to it.

Then a few days before his parents' departure, Nanako was suddenly invited to go on a student exchange over the holidays as well. She along with her fellow classmates would be able to spend the exchange in Europe for almost an entire week and it would all be covered by the school funds. It was an opportunity that she couldn't pass up; even if it meant that she wouldn't get to spend Christmas with any of her family members.

Ryoma then urged her to go as well, much to hers and his parents' dismay. They didn't want to leave their twelve year old son alone for nearly five days, especially when it was supposed to be a family season. The emerald haired boy still wouldn't budge about this decision and repeatedly told them that he was perfectly capable of handling himself for at least a week. He knew how to make simple dishes, he'd clean the house and not let any strange people in and would make sure that everything was kept in order.

They had agreed to the boy's explanation, but were still reluctant as they would sometimes forget that the tennis prodigy was still only twelve. They finally agreed when they said that they would get one of the neighbors to check up on him. He reluctantly agreed to it before they had finally taken off yesterday. Coincidentally, the three of them left on the same day.

They promised that they would do something together when they had gotten back and would bring him something back as well. They wished him a merry Christmas before leaving... though they had forgotten to wish him a happy birthday as well, but he didn't pay much thought to that for it was the holiday season after all. It was normal that a huge celebration for family would overpower his birthday.

He wasn't angry at all at them, nor was he angry at his teammates for forgetting either... but it was just the same thing over and over, year after year. And for once, he wanted to do something special on the day of but when his parents did remember to greet him, they'd always tell him to wait till after Christmas since all the restaurants would be overbooked or would be too overpriced during that time.

Ryoma sighed to himself and cuddled with Karupin on the living room couch. "At least you're here with me." The boy smiled at the cat. As if feeling his distress, the cat just snuggled up with him even more. Ryoma gazed at the clock and it had read 2:55. He hadn't realized that he had left so early from practice, but then again, it wasn't really practice; more like a tennis overview and warm up session. Though he hadn't necessarily waited until the meeting part had started, but it couldn't be helped as he didn't want to sit around and listen to them continually blab on about what they were going to do for Christmas and such.

His house was decorated for the season as well, and he even had the Christmas tree up with all its lights and ornaments. There were a few presents underneath it but he had made an agreement with his family that they would all wait till they were together to open them. Ryoma didn't mind for he didn't care much for trivial material things that people gave him. Whether people gave him clothes, tennis equipment or money, he would just use it or outgrow it eventually so there wasn't much point to them if he could just get it himself.

He knew that this way of thinking wasn't very good, especially around this time of year, but he couldn't help it. It was just one of those things where the items would just get in your way or would just crowd up your space.

"It isn't that big of a deal, is it Karupin?" Ryoma asked the cat, though it had been rhetorical with her since she couldn't talk. "But you like getting gifts, don't you." The cat just meowed in response before jumping off the couch.

"Where are you going?" Ryoma questioned her and was about to follow when the doorbell rang. "It better not be some salesman, they never just leave without giving you an earful." He grumbled as he moved towards the entranceway and slid the door open.

"Yes?" Ryoma looked outside and came face to face with Momo.

"Yo Echizen." Momo looked very giddy and smiled like an idiot in Ryoma's eyes.

"What do you want, Momo-sempai?" The boy wonder said coldly to the other.

"You're being so cold!" the older whined. "Especially for someone whose birthday's today!" Ryoma was caught off guard by the statement.

"How'd you find out?" Ryoma didn't show his surprise.

"You hurt me so much, Echizen!" The black haired boy pretended to be in pain in an overly dramatic way. "I should know these kinds of things as your best friend." He grinned again.

"Goodbye, Momo-sempai." Ryoma moved to close the door, ignoring the best friend comment.

"Hold it!" Momo held open the door, overpowering the other. "I just wanted to make it up to you for not greeting you earlier. So we're going out somewhere."

"Yadda..." Ryoma refused again.

"Come on, it'll be fun! And I'll even help you do whatever kind of chore excuse you come with to get out of this." He tugged on the boy's arm slightly.

"I was told not to let anyone strange into the house." The boy fired back once again, trying to get the other to leave him.

"Aww don't be like that. Besides, your mom loves me. I'm sure the house'll be fine when you get back." Momo urged. "And don't lie, telling me your family's home. You told me the other day that they all went on a trip." He grinned slyly as if challenging the other to lie to his face. Ryoma just narrowed his eyes at the older boy.

"What about Karupin?"

"She's fine, I'm sure she'll just be chillin' around the house and having a ball or something. Plus she's a good cat, she'll watch the house for you." Momo said half-jokingly. Ryoma looked behind him to see said cat just watching them from the stairs.

"I guess..." Ryoma finally gave in and grabbed his jacket off a hook, then slipped on his shoes. "Be good, Karupin. I'll be back in a while." The boy said to the cat who meowed in response before curling up to take a nap.

"Alright, so where do you wanna go?"

"You mean you don't know what to do?"

"Well, I was hoping you'd tell me what you wanted to do." Momo argued.

"Mada mada dane." Ryoma pulled his cap down and smirked.

"Why you..." Momo was about to put the boy in a head lock until he saw a sign being held up by Kikumaru and Taka who were hiding around the corner. They were telling him to take him along the park since there was a winter fair happening that day.

"S-Saa, why don't we head to the park then?" Momo suggested. He took another look towards the pair who were giving him the thumbs up.

"Why would you want to go there?" Ryoma questioned him.

"I-I hear there's some festival there, so why don't we check it out?" Momo thought up an excuse.

"Why didn't you just say so in the first place instead of asking me what I wanted to do?" _'Man, this kid is sharp.'_ Momo laughed nervously.

"I just wanted to be polite, you know, and try and make things up to you." Momo pouted.

"Hmph... if you really want to go see the fair that badly then let's go." The tennis prodigy smirked.

"Why you..." Momo felt his eye twitch as the boy led the way. Though he was glad that Ryoma was still acting the same way he always did and wasn't bummed out about earlier. It took them a little while to get to the park, especially with the snow all over, but they made it there safely and saw many kids building snowmen and there were many food stalls and people selling small things, clothes etc... There were also some people giving out free hot chocolate to passers and there was a large bon fire around the center of the large gathering.

"Wow, I didn't know they did this." Ryoma looked around a bit stunned at so many people gathered here on Christmas Eve. He would've thought that they would all have been at home and doing whatever they'd normally do like cooking dinner, having a Christmas party with family and/or friends or just enjoying the warmth of their home.

"Yeah... I didn't either." Momo sounded equally stunned.

"I thought you knew about this festival." Ryoma questioned again.

"W-Well... y-yeah but I haven't been here in a long while... that's all." He quickly thought up an excuse to throw the boy off his trail.

"I see. We'll then you can treat me to food now." The smaller boy walked towards the vendors.

"Wha- how did you get to that point?" The taller looked exasperated at his kouhai.

"My birthday, your treat." The boy genius smirked.

"Whatever... I'm making an exception today." The black haired sempai agreed, deciding that this could be his way of making it up to his best friend. They bought some barbeque skewers and got some hot chocolate then sat near the fire on some logs. And while they were eating, they heard some kids talk about entering the snowman making competition and the two boys exchanged glances before deciding to enter upon hearing that the prize was a coupon book for their favorite burger place. The two then got to work, gathering as much snow as they could and tried to build a good, large snowman.

From a distance, Kikumaru and Kawamura were just watching the two, making sure Momo didn't slip up or anything and by slip up, they meant letting the surprise out or letting Ryoma go home. "Nya, I wanna join the competition too~" The acrobatic player whined.

"We can't Eiji, if they see us, Echizen will know something is up. Especially because of what today is." The power player explained.

"But I want the coupon book too." The redhead pouted.

"Just sacrifice it, besides, I'm sure those two will lend you some if they win it." Kawamura tried to cheer the other up. It also made him realize a new respect for Oishi dealing with all these hard to deal with personalities on a daily basis. Kikumaru finally murmured an 'I guess' and they drew their attention back to their two members to find that they had finished building already. They sweatdropped as they found that they had built a snowman holding a tennis racket in one arm and holding a snowball in the other. Ryoma had also made a small cat that looked like his own.

"Nice job Momo-sempai." Ryoma looked at the older boy.

"Same to you Echizen." Momo nudged him. They then looked at the crowd around them as they all looked at their snowmen in awe and wondered how two middle schoolers could possibly build such a nice looking snowman.

"I-I guess by audience reaction, you two win the first place prize." The judge said to the pair. The other contestants just looked in envy but they didn't say much either as they also thought the pair had done a marvelous job as well.

"Yosha~" Momo cheered.

"Yatta~" Ryoma exclaimed right after. Then after they were awarded and the excitement died down, Ryoma looked towards his sempai. "So what now Momo-sempai?" The older jumped at the question and wondered what to do.

"What now? Uhh, let's see..." As he faked thinking, his eyes were shifting around looking for his sempai to see what they come up with but he couldn't find them anywhere. "Well..." then his stomach grumbled and an idea immediately popped into his head. "How about we use the coupons now?" He asked his kouhai.

"Didn't we just eat though?" Ryoma raised an eyebrow.

"Maa, that wasn't enough to fill me. You should know that by now." He chuckled, hoping the boy would agree.

"That's true, your stomach is the ultimate black hole." The boy genius teased and led the way to the closest burger place.

"Hey, that's no way to treat your sempai, it's not." Momo ran after him.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

"Where are they heading now?" Kikumaru asked Kawamura.

"Mmm by the looks of it, they're heading out to use the coupons they got." The sandy brunette explained. "But I wonder how the others are doing." Just then, Kikumaru's cellphone started ringing and it surprised him a bit as he jumped, then juggled the ringing device in his hands before answering.

"Ah moshimoshi?" Kikumaru answered the call.

"_Eiji?"_

"Oishi? How are things going?"

"_Alright, and we're almost done here. So make sure that those two start heading over here."_ The fuku-buchou instructed.

"Oh no, okay we'll go stop them. Bye~" Kikumaru hung up abruptly and dragged Kawamura off towards the other two. "We have to stop them nya~ Oishi said that they're almost ready."

"Ah and they're just about to eat too!" They started running to catch up to the two kouhai.

"There they are! Hurry!" Kikumaru yelled to his companion. "Ochibi~ Momo~ whoaaaaaa~~"He called out to the two and started running a bit faster but then slid because of the ice.

"Ah Eiji, whoaaaa!" Kawamura followed as he fell but the momentum kept pushing him forward until he crashed into the redhead who crashed into the bikes on the bike rack. The two kouhais just turned around to witness their sempais tangled up in the bike rack bars and bicycles.

"Kikumaru-sempa, Kawamura-sempai are you two alright?!" Momo went over to quickly help them up.

"Ha ha, yeah, I'm alright. Taka-san?" Kikumaru looked towards the other.

"Same here." He smiled with a bit of embarrassment written on his face.

"You two should be careful. Especially you, Kikumaru-sempai. Aren't you planning on continuing to play tennis in high school?" Ryoma looked at the red headed acrobatic player.

"Mouu~ it's almost Christmas and Ochibi's scolding meee~" Kikumaru pouted and crossed his arms. Ryoma just shrugged then asked the pair what they were doing there. The third years exchanged glances and quickly tried to think up an excuse that won't give away what they were planning. "Uh, uh, weeeelll~ since it's almost Christmas and I happened to meet Taka-san and you two here, I figured we could all eat somewhere together~" The redhead quickly covered.

"Maa~ since we were going to eat, might as well eat with our sempais, ne Echizen?" Momo didn't know what was going on but since his sempai showed up when they were supposed to be keeping their distance, then it must've meant that the others' preparations were finished.

"It's fine." Ryoma just put his hands in his pockets and shrugged again.

"Great, so where do you two wanna eat? We were gonna head over to that burger place again but _if _you _have_ any _other_ place you wanna go to, then I'm cool with it." Momo seemed to emphasize a bit too much and Kikumaru wanted to elbow him for being too obvious about it.

"How about eating at my place? I'm sure that my dad wouldn't mind spotting us a few meals." Kawamura suggested. Momo and Kikumaru were inwardly grinning at the great excuse that Kawamura had thought up and were also inwardly praising him. Liking the sound of a free meal, Ryoma smiled and agreed before following his sempais to the restaurant. After a few minutes of walking, they finally made it to the place and they stood there for a little while as if hesitating to enter.

"Something wrong?" Ryoma asked the boys as they jumped at the question. Although, he did find it odd that there didn't seem to be any noise coming from the other side of the doors. It couldn't have been a slow day because this place had quite a few loyal customers that came often if not every day. The boy genius just waited for them to answer him but they seemed to be preoccupied about what to do. He wasn't sure why since all they had to do was open the door.

"N-No, nothing's wrong." Kawamura murmured.

"Then why not go in?" He asked.

"We-Well..." Momo trailed off as he glanced at the other two. The problem was that they had to somehow get Ryoma to open the door and enter before them so that the others could surprise him. However, they didn't know how to do so without being suspicious because they had walked in front of the boy, though because of this small error on their part, they were being even more suspicious.

"Is the door broken? Just open it." Ryoma then walked past them and opened the door only to have streamers suddenly pop up in his face which made him flinch back before looking around.

"Surprise!" Everyone inside, as well as the three outside, had exclaimed. "Happy Birthday Ryoma!" The other regulars were there, the freshmen trio, the two girls and even the two reporters had shown up.

Ryoma was utterly stunned at the event since he had expected them all to have either forgotten or not known about his birthday. "Happy birthday, Ochibi~" Kikumaru had come up from behind and hugged him over his shoulders.

"I had you didn't I, ne Echizen?" Momo nudged.

"I guess..." Ryoma hid his eyes under his cap.

"Fshhh, took you long enough to enter idiot." Kaido scolded.

"Hey, we had to get him to open the door, so it couldn't be helped!" Momo yelled back.

"Well, you probably screwed something up as usual." Kaido fired back but Tezuka decided to cut off the fighting there with threats of running laps in the cold. They both immediately shut up.

"Happy Birthday Echizen, sorry I forgot to greet you earlier." Kawamura mentioned.

"We're all sorry." Oishi came forward to greet the boy personally. "And if it wasn't for Ryuzaki-sensei or Atobe, then we probably would've forgotten entirely." Oishi sounded ashamed of himself and felt that he didn't deserve the title of being Seigaku's mother hen.

"The monkey king?" Ryoma raised an eyebrow at that.

"He left this at school for you." Tezuka came over and handed him the basket.

"How did he find out?" The first year mumbled to himself as the others urged him to take the wrappings off the basket. He did as he was told and immediately frowned at the gift. Inside were cans of grape ponta, a tin of tennis balls, a gift card to the sporting goods store he frequents, grip tape, a gift card to the burger joint they frequent and a new cat toy. It wasn't that he disliked the gift, he just questioned on how the silver haired rich boy knew all of these things.

"Wow, how did he know you liked all of these things? The tennis stuff sure, but everything else?" Momo was amazed.

"Same way he figured out ochibi's birthday I guess." Kikumaru figured.

"Atobe has good intel, so it shouldn't be surprising that he was able to find out so much about you. It's also one reason why Hyotei is considered a top school." Inui informed.

"That's a little creepy." Momo shivered.

"So he's a stalking monkey king." Ryoma frowned again at the thought.

"It was still thoughtful of him to use that knowledge to give you a gift you would like. So be sure to thank him when you see him." Oishi instructed.

"Hai." Ryoma muttered in response. Then the freshmen trio came up to their schoolmate and Horio handed him a small gift. "What's this?"

"What does it look like, Echizen? It's a present, aaa preeeseent!" Horio gave the box to the other. Ryoma looked at them skeptically but opened it regardless. He then saw a small collar with a bell on it and a pair of wristbands.

"We remembered that your cat had escaped once and you couldn't find her," Kachiro started, "so we thought it would be good if she had a bell so that you would be able to hear her when she comes near." Katsuo finished.

"And the wristbands are good luck charms from us." Horio bragged.

"Hn, arigato." Ryoma smiled slightly at them before closing the box. The three boys were a bit taken aback by the smile that the emerald haired boy flashed towards them but they felt accomplished after it and ran back to their seats. Then the two girls came up to him, well, Sakuno was being pushed by Tomoka as she was too shy to approach on her own.

"Ryoma-sama, happy birthday~ we got this specially for you~" Tomoka announced before nudging Sakuno to give him the present.

"H-Hai, Ryoma-kun." She placed the gift in his hands and he started to open the gift bag. He then pulled out an omamori charm and a small tennis ball keychain.

"It's for good luck Ryoma-sama~ next season, we'll cheer you on extra hard." Tomoka balled her fists in determination. Ryoma then murmured something about her not needing to do such a thing but of course, she paid no mind to his little comments. Shiba, the female reporter, had offered to feature him in an article as a present. Ryoma wasn't really excited about such a gift but he figured that from her, it was better than nothing.

"This is from me." Fuji came up next and gave him a small sketchbook.

"What's this?" Ryoma questioned.

"A sketchbook, so that you can draw what you like in it. I even got you started and did something on the first page." Fuji then flipped the book open and showed Ryoma the drawing he did of him playing tennis.

"Woww~ did you just draw that Fujiko?" Kikumaru bounced over to admire the sketch.

"Ah, I didn't really have much time to prepare so I did something that I could complete quickly." The sandy brunette grinned.

"Thank you Fuji-sempai, it's nice." Ryoma thanked and put it away with the others. Next was Inui and he handed him a couple sheets of paper with some writings and scribblings on them.

"This is some of the notes on you. I figured that you could use these to improve on some of your shots." Ryoma thanked the sempai again and the next, Oishi, gave him new grip tape and a few first aid supplies. Kaido offered a practice match just like he did back when Ryoma had left for America, Kikumaru and Momo had made coupons for Ryoma to use, such as free hugs (in Kikumaru's case), practice matches, favours and meal coupons. Tezuka walked up to Ryoma next and gave him a planner so that he would be able to schedule practices and other important dates for the following year.

"Alright, so I guess it's finally my turn." Kawamura said and took out a few trays of sushi. "Here, it's on me." He placed the trays in front of the emerald haired boy. "Eat as much as you like, and I'll get some more for everyone too." He announced.

"It was nice enough that you always let us come here to celebrate, you honestly don't have to do this Kawamura-sempai." Ryoma looked towards the other.

"Nonsense!" the older Kawamura exclaimed. "You do so much for my boy and for the team as well so this is just a little appreciation from me as well." He pounded his fist into his chest and grinned his lopsided grin. Ryoma couldn't refuse after that and just thanked the father and son pair.

"We're sorry again for forgetting, Echizen." Fuji apologized this time as he picked up a piece of wasabi sushi.

"No, it isn't your fault. It happens every year after all, so I've grown used to it." Ryoma looked at him and the others.

"Well, from here on out, we'll make sure that you won't ever have another birthday like that." Momo wrapped his arm around his kouhai's neck and ruffled the hat on his head into his hair.

"It hurts, Momo-sempai." Ryoma had an annoyed look on his face but really, he was very appreciative of his friends throwing him this surprise party to make up for forgetting something that was easily forgotten during this time of year. After the long school year, even though it wasn't over yet, he felt glad and grateful that he was able to attend Seigaku where he had met these amazing people who had changed his life. It made him feel like he wanted to cherish every moment that he spent with them, especially since the third years will be graduating in March and would soon be preparing for their entrance exams.

"Awwww you getting sentimental Echizen?" Momo teased.

"You wish." Ryoma would never admit it, but he was really thankful to have these people in his life. The group then partied until late before finally heading home to spend Christmas with their families. A couple of them offered for Ryoma to spend the night and day with them so that he wouldn't be alone but he refused, saying that he was perfectly fine and was content with just spending his birthday and Christmas eve with them all. He didn't want to intrude on their family gatherings and he especially didn't want to feel the awkwardness of just sitting around the families and watch them go about their business. He figured that spending Christmas with Karupin would be the best for him and then later on, spend it with his family when they came back from their trips.

After the party ended, they all greeted Ryoma one last time before parting ways. Momo walked with Ryoma to drop him off before heading home himself. Ryoma waved bye to the boy and opened the door to enter the home but was surprised to hear pots and pans clattering. He entered cautiously and immediately headed towards the kitchen. He peered around the corner to find Nanako cooking at the stove.

"Nanako? What are you doing here?" Ryoma walked in with a surprised expression. "I thought you would've been gone by now."

"Oh, it seems that my trip was postponed to next week due to storms in Europe right now. So I'll be able to stay here with you for the rest of the week." She smiled and flipped over whatever she was making.

"Ah I see." Ryoma answered simply.

"Oh yes, and I got a message from Obaa-sama as well and said that their trip was a bit delayed so they'll be coming home tomorrow as the postponed their trip to the weekend. Ryoma was stunned when he heard that as his wish had come true. Though he didn't expect his parents to be back by Christmas, he half hoped that Nanako would at least be there to celebrate with him and Karupin. "And before I forget to greet you again, happy birthday Ryoma-san.

"Thank you Nanako." Ryoma smiled as he went into the other room with Karupin. He hadn't really expected it, but this turned out to be the best Christmas birthday for him. "Merry Birthday to me..." He smiled to himself as he picked up Karupin who curled up in his arms.

* * *

**Yossshhhaaaaa~~~~~~ I finished this before Christmas~~~  
****Hope it was okay, I was kinda wishy washy with the ending  
****Sorry, I just wanted to get this up and done with already  
****I put it off for two years already and I'm not gonna wait another for this  
****So hope you enjoyed it  
****Owari-desu~~~~~~ arigato gozaimasu!^^**

**Started: 12/12/12 (I'm not kidding)  
****Uploaded: 22/12/14**


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